Andrew Yang Wants to Make US Elections Fraud-Proof Using Blockchain

Andrew Yang wants to implement blockchain-based mobile voting as President of the United States.

U.S. Democratic candidate Andrew Yang says he would implement blockchain-based mobile voting as president

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Democratic candidate Andrew Yang says he will implement blockchain-based mobile voting if he wins the 2020 United States presidential election.

On his campaign website, the blockchain advocate says he believes American citizens should have the option of voting on a mobile device — with blockchain technology used for verification purposes.

“It’s ridiculous that in 2020 we are still standing in line for hours”

Yang also believes that, in terms of security risks, most voting machines are just as vulnerable to hackers as modern technology is. He wrote:

“It’s ridiculous that in 2020 we are still standing in line for hours to vote in antiquated voting booths. It is 100% technically possible to have fraud-proof voting on our mobile phones today using the blockchain. This would revolutionize true democracy and increase participation to include all Americans — those without smartphones could use the legacy system and lines would be very short.”

As an upshot, Yang hopes that mobile voting will drive increased participation in elections. On his website, the candidate claims that presidential elections currently have about 50% participation from the public — and low turnout “rewards extreme points of view as opposed to the popular will.”

Last month, a new political action committee supporting Yang announced it will accept donations in Bitcoin via the Lightning Network. In April, Yang also called for clear guidelines for investors, companies and individuals on cryptocurrencies — adding that blockchain has vast potential.

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, the ruling party of the Russian Federation, United Russia, launched a blockchain-based platform for voting in primary elections back in March. It allows citizens to vote online with vote counting supported by blockchain technology to prevent tampering.

9 Comments

Tom Gilchrist

Russians don't believe in blockchain! Though this tech may very well do wonders in elections but media won't love the results.

Roger White

this is useless since the popular vote doesn't decide the presidency - IT SHOULD - but no. The only benefit you get is a fast count of what the people want.

Ben H. Yoon

I'm all about cutting fat from government spending.

James McAnally

Ben, I agree fully

Sean Moore

Far from Useless as we know our votes are counted at least which means broader participation. In 2016 only 9% of our whole country participated.

Ben H. Yoon

Yeah, people might actually read a few articles and videos before casting their ballot, which they won't have to travel and spend two hours of their life doing.

cc sdk

Using block chain, sprinkle in ranked voting and Democracy Dollars and we might be able to change our democracy for the better.

James McAnally

If we were a Democracy, Clinton would be prez but since we are a Democratic Republic, the electoral college determines the presidency rather than the popular vote (thank God!!). A little civics lesson to go with a thought on blockchain. However, a tamper resistant blockchain voting system would solve a TON of the voter fraud/collusion BS we've seen in the recent past

Eric Winder

Blockchain itself might be secure, but input and output can never be fully secure while also being anonymous. Especially when there is no auditable hard copy record, verifiable at the time of voting by the voters themselves.